Get Back to Work
by extenuatingcircumlocution
Summary: The fearsome Rei Serio has had his work cut out for him ever since his intern and secretary started dating each other. Sequel to Internship.


_A/N: It's been some time since I've posted on here. I just wanted to say that it's not because I haven't been writing! I'm going to post my new story on here and on AO3 as soon as possible (maybe within the week). In the mean time, I felt terrible for not posting so much, so here's a timestamp of sorts that wraps up some loose-ends from_ Internship _. I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Rei Serio was a professional.

If you came to his office, you'd be damned sure that the coffee would be delicious, the desk orderly, the secretary alert.

Yeah, right. In his dreams.

Damn Yuka to hell for making him hire that girl in the first place.

Ever since his intern started dating his secretary, life at the firm had been hell. Yuka glared at him over coffee a few mornings ago when he was complaining about it, but it was true.

Well, what would _she_ know? She didn't see the way they acted around each other!

At 1:00 (lunch break for his two wonderful employees) everyday, Serio groaned. They'd sit next to each other on the floor by his office door and eat whatever take-out Mikan Sakura had ordered, complete with sugary sodas. Then they performed the most atrocious PDA that sometimes even Serio had to witness when he went to get his own coffee.

They were terrible.

Something needed to be done about this.

* * *

It was Monday morning, and Serio was suspicious. He came into the office and they were already there, typing and writing, and organizing.

Not to mention humming.

Serio took a deep breath, said a stiff "good morning" and entered his office, hoping that _whatever_ it was that inspired the humming would leave the workplace alone.

They were both humming.

And it didn't let it up for hours.

When it did, after what seemed like years of agony, Serio was close to tears of joy. He hated the humming and if he got his wishes, both the intern and the secretary would've been let go hours ago (or really, months ago, but who was counting? Definitely not Serio).

And then they started whispering to each other excitedly.

"Wait, Intern, I'm thirsty. Did you bring an extra water bottle?"

A fond little chuckle before "Yeah, whatever. You need to be more responsible. I can't cover for you all the time."

"Shut up! I brought a water bottle yesterday!"

"Which I'm pretty sure was your first time doing so."

"Shut up! You're such a jerk."

Serio closed his eyes and let his head thump against his desk. Here comes the bickering.

Or should he say "bickering".

They were disgustingly saccharine.

"Dear God," muttered Serio, his forehead still pressed to the wood of the desk. "Please allow me the courage to fire them. Please let Yuka understand. I can't take this anymore."

The hushed "insults" and the cooing finally stopped after a moment and Serio exhaled in relief until -

The humming resumed.

Fuck.

* * *

Rei Serio was a professional, goddamnit.

He was fearsome and intimidating. He ruled the courthouse, dominated the jury, inspired the verdict.

He was the reason his clients walked or saw justice.

He was a strong fist that crushed unlawfullness and saw to it that whoever was paying him at the time would see their ends fulfilled.

It was devastating whenever this failed to occur.

"Uh, Mr. Serio, sir," came a giggly voice at the door. Mikan Sakura kept looking back to the intern's desk and shushing him, eyes alight with glee. _Kill me_ , recited Serio's brain. _Shoot me. Do it. Right now._ "Uh, hehe, um, Mr. Shiki set up an appointment for 3:30 today. Hehe."

Serio exhaled, trying to calm down.

Yes, workplace relationships were unprofessional.

Giggling on the job was unprofessional.

Making out in front of the boss's office was unprofessional.

But yelling at your secretary for these trespasses was also unprofessional.

And, goddamnit, Rei Serio was a fucking professional.

"Shiki made an appointment for 3:30."

"Yes, sir." Another giggle. "Natsume, stop," she hissed.

"It is 3:15."

"Yes, that too. That's why I came to tell you -"

"And I only heard about this appointment now, about thirty seconds ago."

"Hmm. Well, I did write it down. I think."

"I have fifteen minutes to prepare for a meeting with a very important client, is what you're saying."

"No, sir, I'm sure I wrote it down."

Serio closed his eyes again.

 _Count to ten,_ said Nobara Ibaragi's voice. _Count to ten to calm yourself down. Outbursts don't suit your complexion, sir._

Whatever. Fuck it. He couldn't take this anymore.

"Mikan Sakura, your job is not to make doe eyes at my intern. Your job is not to extend your lunch break an extra half hour so you can make out more. Your job is not to make inside jokes. Your job is to make appointments ahead of time and make sure I know about them with adequate time to prepare. Your job is to make me coffee and be a representative of this firm. Do you know what you _haven't been doing?_ That's right - the shit that is _not your job!_ "

Mikan Sakura stood there, pale, wide-eyed, distraught. "Sir, I -"

"I hate having to do this, but call your boyfriend in here."

"Natsume," Mikan muttered, because of course she only had to mutter - he was listening.

"Yep."

And then they were in front of him, Mikan looking ashamed, staring at her shoes and trying to make herself smaller, while Natsume crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

"What, were you busy? Doing something important that I interrupted?" Serio asked, sarcastically. Natsume had the sense to uncross his arms at that.

"Yes, sir?" asked Mikan, voice soft.

"You two have always been terrible employees. From day one, Sakura, you have put salt instead of sugar in my coffee and played Neopets instead of making calls for me. Hyuuga. You've been lusting after this disaster from day one and it's only caused me problems. You both put each other over this job and I simply can't have that kind of employee running amok and causing havoc. I was forced to keep you in my employ, despite your unprofessional relationship, but you have both demonstrated that it has only impeded your abilities (not that they were awesome to begin with)."

"Sir?" Natsume asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, right, cut to the chase," Serio said, leaning against his desk. "You're both fucking fired. Pack your things and get out of here."

Natsume and Mikan stood still for a moment. Mikan's hands twitched, Natsume exhaled loudly.

Then, they both grinned and started laughing.

"Awesome," Natsume said triumphantly, holding up his palm. Mikan high fived him and squealed, hugging him tightly.

"We did it!" she exclaimed.

"Teamwork, Polka."

"What?" Serio asked, looking between his ex-employees with confusion.

"Working for you has been hell," Natsume explained.

"We wanted you to fire us so bad," Mikan chipped in. "We were really sick of it all."

Serio raised an eyebrow. "You did such terrible jobs on purpose?"

Natsume scoffed. "Mikan here always sucked at her job." Mikan looked sheepish at that. "But I convinced her to be even worse so that you'd let us go."

"Congratulations," Serio deadpanned. "You're both unemployed. I hope you have luck providing for a family now that you've been fired from the second best law firm in the country."

Mikan made a squeaky noise, holding up her index finger. "We will! I'm applying to nursing school - which Natsume will help me pay for - and _he's_ getting interviewed by the _first_ best law firm in the country next Wednesday!"

"What?" The horror leaked out of Serio at that word.

"Yay!" Mikan exclaimed, spinning around. Natsume watched her, smiling.

"Oh no." Serio slouched against his desk, closing his eyes. "Fine. Just get out of my office before I have an aneurysm."

They skipped off (or whatever it is lovebirds do, Serio wouldn't know) to pack their stuff and lead much better lives while Serio breathed in and breathed out.

There was no karma.

He worked his ass off for years, was an intern for the better part of his law career, and suffered through a lot of losses before he racked up the reputation he had today.

Natsume Hyuuga was an intern once, maybe for a few months, before falling in love with the secretary there, and running off to become a renowned attorney.

Sakura was incompetent and was now going into training to do something she might actually be good at.

Serio was so close to tears (these ones out of frustration) it hurt.

But he didn't cry.

He didn't scream.

He didn't yell or kick and curse or anything.

He waited ten minutes for Mr. Shiki to walk in, tell him he'd found another legal consultant and that he was firing him, watched Mr. Shiki leave, and got himself some weird "Secret" coffee at the Starbucks across the street. The pink-haired barista squealed with giddiness as she called his name and watched him sip some sort of disgusting poison and almost puke all over the floor. He returned to his office to find the secretary and the intern had already left, and Yuka was in their wake, watching him approach. She told him to clean up his office because he was supposed to represent the firm, and then she walked away. Serio went into his office and nearly fell out of his chair. Then he sat up straight and realized he had to sort his files because the intern hadn't done any of that in weeks.

All of that and Serio didn't shed a single tear.

No.

He was a fucking professional, after all.


End file.
